Coming into the first round of Day 2 at Grand Prix Yokohama, just six players fought their way to undefeated records, by and large playing known decks that do known things. Jund, Affinity, Blue-White Restoration Angel and Melira Pod all escaped unscathed in the hands of six talented magicians, including Ken'ichirou Oomori, who was sitting in the feature match area this round with Jund.

The deck was very well positioned, able to play offense, defense and combo in a Naya shell, a color combination most players are not accustomed to having to fight through a combo finish. It had clearly caught many players by surprise on Day 1.

But this was Day 2, and Oomori was an accomplished local player who has tasted some professional success and was armed with a deck that made a habit of spoiling the fun for rogue decks.

Game 1

Yotsumoto was satisfied with his seven to start, but Oomori quickly threw back two unplayable hands. He was eventually forced to settle for a five card hand that had only two Treetop Villages for mana, but also held Tarmogoyf and Dark Confidant, the latter of which he managed to play on his second turn thanks to a Blackcleave Cliffs.

Now drawing two a turn thanks to Dark Confidant, Oomori was looking for a way to catch up since he was already down to seven life and behind on board. A 0/1 Tarmogoyf looked pretty weak against Yotsumoto's menagerie.

With no black mana in hand, Oomori floated black mana to put two counters on his Kitchen Finks with Jund Charm. He might not be able to cast many spells, but that 5/4 Kitchen Finks was a major source of damage. Yotsumoto was already down to 11 life.

From there it was just a matter of clearing the way with a Lightning Bolt on Yotsumoto's only blocker, and a Treetop combined with the Kitchen Finks to end the game in just two turns.

The Sigarda would be virtually impossible for Oomori to remove, but he had a second Thoughtseize in hand and time to use it. Instead he chose the Birthing Pod, letting Yotsumoto resolve a Kitchen Finks to put the pressure on. Between Thoughtseize, fetch lands and shock lands, Oomori was at 13 without any help from Yotsumoto. An attack from an exalted Kitchen Finks put him to 9.

Now way behind on board, Oomori attempted to catch up with a Dark Confidant, but a revealed Jund Charm made things pretty bad for the Jund player, now down to six life.

Yuki Yotsumoto has been running roughshod over the field this weekend with an interesting take on Naya Pod.

The play worked for a turn as Yotsumoto simply played Eternal Witness and passed without attacking, keeping Oomori under his own Dark Confidant clock.

Oomori revealed a land to stay alive, but Yotsumoto found the mana he needed to cast Sigarda on his turn. Oomori had had the opportunity to play Jund Charm, which would have kept Yotsumoto off five mana and stunted his attack while killing Dark Confidant, but instead chose not to.

Staring at a board he could not overcome, Oomori conceded for the first time on the weekend while Yotsumoto's Naya Pod list moved to 9-0-1 on the weekend.

Yotsumoto 2 – Oomori 1

Sunday, 11:19 a.m. - Day 1 Metagame Breakdown

by Blake Rasmussen

After finally managing to wade through 1,523 deck lists, categorizing some pretty bizarre decks, and writing "Snapcaster Mage" and "Tarmogoyf" a million times, we have assembled a full metagame breakdown of all the decks registered for Day 1.

There aren't many surprises at the top of the list. Nearly 12 percent of the field opted to run with Jund this weekend, making it the most played deck during the tournament.

Rounding out the decks that hit triple digits are Affinity and Splinter Twin, followed by G/r Tron, Melira Pod and various Red burn decks – some of the Mono Red variety with others dipping into Black for Dark Confidant and Bump in the Night.

After that, things get a bit less exact.

Some 65 Snapcaster players dipped into red for Lightning Bolt and Lightning Helix, while 40 players dropped blue entirely and just played Boros. Just over 50 intrepid players piloted the tricky Storm deck on the weekend, while 24 tried their hand at the "combo" of cheating Emrakul, the Aeons Torn and Griselbrand into play (a number much lower than I would have guessed coming in, given the Gerry Thompson stamp of approval).

The "Other Snapcaster" decks is a pretty loose category reserved for decks playing the powerful Wizard, but not quite fitting into RUG, Esper, UWR or UW categories. As you can see, even when not playing stock lists, Taigo Chan's Invitational card still brings players in.

Mono White Martyr decks were seen clogging the draw bracket, but some did make Day 2, and one Martyr deck did Top 8 Grand Prix Turin, so it's a deck to keep an eye on.

Living End, once the darling of the new format, only found 13 players, while Luis-Scott Vargas' favorite UW Tron – as well as cousins UR Tron and UB Tron – barely put up single digits.

A bit later in the day we'll look at the Day 2 metagame, what did well, what did not so well, and what it means for the format.

Round 11 Feature Match - Sakamoto Sakito vs. Sui Xin

by Chapman Sim

Both players have been having an excellent weekend and remain as the only two players with pristine records. One player would walk away from this match as the lone undefeated player and once step closer to the Top 8. Sakamoto Sakito resides in Osaka and has a somewhat gentle demeanor and a deceptively crafty brain. His inclusion of deck Blood Moon in his maindeck is possibly what sets him apart from the other Affinity lists. Sui is no slouch himself, and is determined to make yet another Grand Prix Top 8, after his finals appearance earlier this year at Grand Prix Kuala Lumpur.

After the enchantment, Sakito drops a trio of backbreaking permanents, namely Etched Champion and two Steel Overseers. Having no access to white mana, Sui could only murmur "game two" under his breath.

The attack from Ornithopter, Signal Pest and Memnite reduced Sui to 13 but that was no match for Sui's army which he amassed during the next two turns. Moorland Haunt got to work, while both manlands crashed into the red zone and it seemed that the game was sliding away from the Japanese player. A second Restoration Angel from Sui was the final nail in the coffin.

Sakamoto Sakito 1 – Sui Xin 2

The last undefeated player in the tournament. Congratulations Sui Xin!

Sunday, 12:28 p.m. - Deck Tech: Blue White Sprites

by Chapman Sim

Of the six players who went undefeated yesterday, only one was from foreign land and he is none other than Sui Xin who heralds from Mainland China. He came in second at Grand Prix Kuala Lumpur earlier this year (defeated only by Yuuya Watanabe in the finals), earning him enough Pro Points to champion the Chinese Team for the upcoming World Magic Cup.

He has a slightly intimidating facade (possibly owing to the speed at which he plays), Sui is a jolly guy all around and definitely very well-respected within the Chinese Magic Community. Motivated by his recent successes, he decided to travel to Japan in search for greater glory. His endeavor seems to be paying off, seeing how he has rattled off eleven consecutive wins to emerge atop the standings.

Sui Xin who as of Round 11 remains the only undefeated player in the tournament.

The list he is running looks slightly different from many of the stocklists available online (barring Tooru Inoue's winning GPT list) and he seems to be the only person at the top tables running Spellstutter Sprites at all, renouncing the myth that you needed Kitchen Finks or Venser, Shaper Savant or even the fourth Restoration Angel in your maindeck.

It is one thing to have your fist of cards ripped apart with format staples like Thoughtseize, Duress and Inquisition of Kozilek, but to face hand-disruption from a blue deck is another story. Restoration Angel when used in conjunction with Vendilion Clique thwarts many opponents of their plans and works beautifully in Sui Xin's deck along his suite of countermagic. Counting Spellstutter Sprites, he is running a total of fifteen counterspells, possibly more than any other competitor today.

"I'm terribly afraid of many of the one mana costed spells in the format. Spellstutter Sprite is amazing, its like a Mental Misstep with a body", Sui Xin exclaimed excitedly, and it was not hard to see why after some number-crunching on my part.

Of the twenty winning trial decklists on Friday, their maindecks contained a total of nearly three hundred one mana costed spells which the sprite could stutter. That works out to be 15 cards, or 25% of everyone's maindeck.

The deceptively powerful faerie hits roughly 24 cards against Mono Red Burn, Boros and Affinity, around 20 cards against Storm Combo and Splinter Twin. Against Jund, Spellstutter Sprite only snares ten spells, but those are a mix of Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek (and Lightning Bolt), which are pretty important cards if you wanted to keep your cards to yourself. The deck which contained the fewest counterable candidates was Living End, which is amusing because that is the only spell you need to stop to beat that strategy!

When questioned about his mix of countermagic, he explained to me earnestly that there was no real good way to play around his countermagic, given his configuration.

Why not a fourth Mutavault and the fourth Restoration Angel? Sui explained that he had decided to play with Moorland Haunt (without further compromising the mana base), which is powerful in a different way, since he was running more creatures than other blue white decks. Sui also dislikes drawing multiple angels, on the pretext that its slow and weighty.

"The Blue White deck has one of the best sideboards in the format. It's also one of the many reasons I didn't want to play Jund. It has clunky cards both in the maindeck and sideboard. I like this board very much, it's great against almost all the viable strategies in Modern."

While his choices might be slightly unorthodox, his seven five cards has certainly served him well so far. We wish him all the best as he attempts to win his next two matches to secure a spot in the Top 8. Good luck!

Round 12 Feature Match - Ryouma Tanaka vs. Satoshi Yamaguchi

by Blake Rasmussen

Twelve rounds in and there was just one player left undefeated, but a number of hungry players lapping at the heels of rising Chinese star Xin Sui. Two of those players, Ryouma Tanaka and Satoshi Yamaguchi, came into the day with a loss but had taken down their first two rounds to move into the mix vying for the Top 8.

Tanaka was sporting a straight, no frills Splinter Twin deck while Yamaguchi – who was recently seen at Pro Tour Avacyn Restored, was wielding the most popular deck on the weekend, Jund.

Meanwhile, Tanaka was content to shuffle through his deck with Sleight of Hand and Serum Visions, looking to assemble his combo while not dying to Yamaguchi's mounting offense. Missing a land drop on turn four didn't help much, though.

An attack with all three creatures left Tanaka on just five life facing down a known Terminate. He tried Deceiver Exarch anyway, but when it was predictably Terminated, the players moved on to Game 2.

Tanaka 0 – Yamaguchi 1

Game 2

Tanaka liked his opening hand, keeping a seven card grip that was heavy on Magus of the Moon and the mana to cast it. If he could resolve it and keep Yamaguchi off Lightning Bolts and basic lands, the game could go very, very quickly.

Terminate killed the Vendilion Clique, but the path was now wide open for Magus of the Moon, which resolved, shutting down anything but red spells from the Jund player.

A Deceiver Exarch then hopped into play, ready to combo off. Yamaguchi tried to keep Tanaka off a second red source with Molten Rain, but when the Splinter Twin player revealed another red land from his hand, Yamaguchi was quick to concede.

Tanaka 1 – Yamaguchi 1

Game 3

Yamaguchi started out as he had in the first game, landing Dark Confidant to kick start his card advantage machine. Tanaka would have a difficult time fighting through Bob.

Ancient Grudge looked curious against the Blue Red combo deck, but a quick glance at Tanaka's hand showed why. He was holding Sword of War and Peace. Did Yamaguchi have a scout on Tanaka's sideboard plan? Or was the Grudge there for Spellskite?

Either way, Thoughtseize revealed Tanaka's plans, as well as two Dispels and a Kiki-Jiki. Yamaguchi took one of the Dispels to try and clear out some counter magic.

Jund has served Satoshi Yamaguchi well this weekend, taking him all the way to 11-1.

On Yamaguchi's attack (yes, this is still the same turn), Vendilion Clique jumped in front of one Dark Confidant, but that left Tanaka with little action. His sword, about his only play, was quickly dispatched by Ancient Grudge.

Meanwhile, Dark Confidant kept attacking and eating away at both players life totals, Tanaka at 7 and Yamaguchi at 11. Liliana then showed up to eat away at both players hands. Yet, through all of it, Yamaguchi was getting the better end of the deal.

A few turns of that and an impending Liliana ultimate, and Yamaguchi eventually wore Tanaka down all the way.

Yamaguchi 2 – Tanaka 1

Sunday, 1:09 p.m. An Interview with Japanese National Team Captain Yuuya Watanabe

by Blake Rasmussen

Yuuya Watanabe has been a steady fixture on the front of magicthegathering.com lately, outright winning a whopping four Grands Prix and placing second in another since the start of 2011. At 8-3-1, he won't be winning Grand Prix Yokohama, but we sat down (with a translator) with the all-universe pro to talk about his success, his goals for the year and just who he wants to fill the last slot on the Japanese World Cup Magic team.

Champion Yuuya Watanabe

Why do you think you have had so much success at Grands Prix lately? I'm a lucky man. My opponents have had really strong Grand Prix decks, but I've been fortunate to bring the strongest decks.

What are your goals for this year? My goals are pretty much to win everything. Win the Pro Tour, win the Magic World Cup and post the best standing in Pro Points.

What do you think of Modern?It's fun, but there are so many decks that it makes it hard to prepare.

The Japanese team for the World Magic Cup is nearly set. What do you think of the team so far ? I'm a bit worried because the competition will be fierce, but we'll try our best. The American team is very strong.

There's still one slot left to fill for the Japanese team. If you could pick any player to complete the team, who would you pick?Shouta Yasooka

Sunday, 1:56 p.m. - Day 2 Metagame Breakdown

by Chapman Sim

It wasn't easy looking through an intimidating stack of Japanese decklists, but fortunately I'm Chinese and there are many similarities between both languages.

These Iron Men are possibly more intimidating than Tony Stark.

Reduced from a field of 1523, only 179 have survived to compete in the second day and Affinity was by far the most represented deck. It boasted the highest conversion rate among the top five archetypes, which is surprising due to the popularity of Ancient Grudge in more than half the field's sideboards.

Despite being universally dubbed the "safe choice", Jund showed disappointing numbers in comparison. Of the 182 yesterday, only 16 remain in Day Two. Many players have agreed that the deck overflows with goodness and packs cards with great value. Unfortunately, you don't always have that much time to cast all your cards given how fast the format is. Off the top of my head, Mono Red Burn and Boros seem to be horrible matchups.

Self-explanatory.

Ditto.

Splinter Twin and Naya Pod decks have also posted similar results, and each form around 8% of the field. Both decks have an infinite combo of their own, in the form of either Splinter Twin / Deceiver Exarch, or Restoration Angel / Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker. Despite this similarity, both decks are vastly different at their respective approaches. The Splinter Twin uses card selection and countermagic to defend their combo, whilst Naya Pod has an alternative beatdown plan which can be abusive alongside its namesake artifact, Birthing Pod.

The Modern Trinity

Blue White Restoration Angel based decks are also putting up decent numbers, possibly owing to the fact that the deck is home to some of the most important creatures of the format. It is not fair when you reset the abilities on already very powerful cards like Kitchen Finks and Venser, Shaper Savant.

There are also various interesting rogue decks hovering around including a myriad of Delver-based decks in various color combinations as well as truly unorthodox choices like Black Green Poison, Summoning Trap and Mono Green Aggro. There are also sightings of a nasty Red White Haterator, featuring maindeck Suppression Field and Blood Moon! What an exciting format this is!

Sunday, 2:24 p.m. - Top Tables after Round 13

by Chapman Sim

It's been a long day and only three more rounds remain before the final eight spots are confirmed. Here is a short update on what are the top decks that were spotting lurking at the Top Six tables. Naya Pod and Merlia Pod has claimed 5 of the 12 spots so expect to see a couple of the namesake artifact in the Top 8 later on. Stayed tuned for more updates. Be right back!

Naya Pod

4

Jund

2

Blue White Restoration Angel

2

Affinity

1

WB Tokens

1

Melira Pod

1

Mono Red Burn

1

Round 13 Feature Match - Naoki Shimizu vs. Mamoru Hiramatsu

by Chapman Sim

Naoki Shimizu is at 10-2 record and can't afford any losses if he wanted to add another Grand Prix Top 8 to his resumé. Shimizu's most prolific achievements include a 3rd place finish at Pro Tour Austin (the same one Brian Kibler took home the grand prize), as well as a quarterfinals appearance at Pro Tour Avacyn Restored earlier in the year. His opponent Mamoru Hiramatsu was at a similar score and can't afford to lose either. After a quick deck check, both players were ready to go.

Despite the Affinity player's explosive opening, Shimizu was in no danger of losing. Once again, he managed to complete his Urzatron set on turn three, resolving Batterskull and Wurmcoil Engine one after another. Ancient Grudge (smashing Cranial Plating) ensured that it was impossible for Sakamoto to outrace two lifelinking monsters, or inflict enough poison counters via abnormally huge Inkmoth Nexi.

Naoki Shimizu 2 – Mamoru Hiramatsu 0

Most would agree that seven mana on turn three is pretty unfair.

Round 14 Feature Match - Jyun'ichi Miyajima vs. Youichi Nagami

by Blake Rasmussen

We were now entering the final rounds of the tournament, where every match could mean the difference between Top 8 and Top 32, between having your name etched in Magic's history or being a footnote in the Pro Points ledger.

Sitting at the top of the heap, hailing all the way from Table 1 were Jyun'ichi Miyajima and Youichi Nagami, two local players making good this weekend.

Miyajima was sporting a rogue-ish BW Tokens deck, bucking the Jund/UW/Affinity/Pod/Tron field this weekend right to the top of the standings. His opponent, Nagami, who was pleasant and bubbly right from the presentation of sideboards, was playing a Melira Pod deck that touched on Red for Bonfire of the Damned.

Game 1

Nagami led off with a mulligan and found himself facing down Raise the Alarm and a Tidehollows Sculler pretty quickly.

The Sculler revealed Nagami to be playing Birthing Pod with the Melira combo, and the namesake Pod was tucked under the 2/2.

Brian David Marshall has once called Kuo Tzu Ching "the most accomplished Magic player you have never heard of with 151 lifetime Pro Points". The fact is, he has been playing Magic for over ten years, and has around twenty Pro Tour appearances under his belt.

He has eight Grand Prix Top 8s and is currently tied at 30th place on the list of all-time Grand Prix Top 8s (and 1st within the APAC region outside of Japan). Back at home, he has eight Nationals Top 8s, including three Champion titles.

Aside from Masahiko Morita, he is possibly the one player on earth who has had that much success on the Grand Prix circuit but unable to break the Top 8 of a Pro Tour. Kuo's closest finish was 10th place at Pro Tour Avacyn Restored earlier this spring.

Kuo Tzu Ching, possibly of the finest in Asia

"It was truly a miracle. I started the tournament 1-4 and then I went on to win 11 straight matches in a row. That performance gave me enough Pro Points to reach Platinum and it I can't describe how happy I am."

In addition to reaching the "mecca" level, Kuo also earned the right to captain his National Team (Chinese Taipei) for the World Magic Cup. In the process, he also upset Jeremy Neeman to clinch the precious spot in the 16-man Players Championships 2012, where the Player of the Year will be determined.

What expectations do you have for the Magic World Cup for your team? When I was attending worlds last year, Team Chinese Taipei made Top 4 in the team portion. I hope to improve upon that result! We need to wait for our last WMCQ before the team is finalized.

Who would you like your last teammate to be? Huang Hao-shan, of course! He is a great player and close friend of mine.

What are your goals for this year? Hoping to make a Pro Tour Top 8 really soon, and stay on the Platinum Level at the very least.

Kuo secretly professes to be mildly disappointed at his 12th place finish today, but he would like to add that this event has been rather special for him. He is notorious for being terrible at the Featured Match tables, and for good reason. "To my recollection, I have never won any featured match at a Grand Prix or Pro Tour. Today, I finally won at a Featured Match and it's a great feeling!"

I personally think a playset of foil Cursebreak would make a suitable commemorative gift for this momentous occasion.

Sunday 5:40 p.m. - Guest Artists

by Chapman Sim

Crowds waiting for the artists

No Grand Prix is complete without visiting artists who fly halfway around the globe for the sake of their avid fans. Eric Deschamps and Peter Mohrbacher are here this weekend, autographing cards and producing sketches for their most dedicated supporters all weekend. The long queues formed three two hours before either of them could arrive, a testament to both artists' popularity.

Eric Deschamps

Eric has been illustrating for Magic: The Gathering for a while now, and has even produced a couple of piece for the highly hilarious Unhinged expansion. Garruk Relentless, Olivia Voldaren and Tamiyo, the Moon Sage have been popular all weekend as are both the Planeswalkers which he had specially commissioned for the Venser vs. Koth Duel Decks.

Peter Mohrbacher is relatively new to illustrating Magic cards and his first piece was in fact Animar, Soul of Elements, a hugely popular Commander General. He has also been flooded with requests to signature Drogskol Captains, Gavony Townships and Ghost Quarter, possibly owing to the fact that they are commonly played in various Standard decks.

His most recent and possibly most awesome piece has found its way into Avacyn Restored. I don't believe the photograph I took does the print any justice, but I wanted the world to catch a glimpse of the full-length art for Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded. Breathtaking indeed!